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Sea snail in knee: 4-year-old finds “pet” snail living in his knee

by vent wing

A sea snail in knee: Beyond doubt one of the strangest tales circulating the Internet at the moment. Only a young boy would be delighted to find a sea snail in his knee. Paul Franklin, a 4-year-old from Aliso Viejo, Calif., discovered the sea snail, kept it, and even named it, reports the Huffington Post on Aug. 16.

Franklin and his family went on a camping trip to Spooner’s Cove beach on the central California coast. There, much like any small child, he fell and skinned his knee. As parents, knee and elbow skins are part of the territory. We bandage up and life goes on.

Not this time though. Paul’s mom, 35-year-old Rachel Franklin, knew something was amiss with her son’s “owie,”

“It was just a little owie,” Rachel said, “but one that kept seeping and never quite scabbed up.”

A trip to the doctor was up next, and they came home with a regimen of prescriptions to fight Paul’s “staph infection.” The 10-day supply was just about out, and there was no improvement.

“[The doctor] was more freaked out than even I am,” Rachel recalls. “It was no laughing matter, he told us. The infection could work its way into Paul’s bloodstream and cause all kinds of problems. Thinking it might be the superbug, he washed his hands, and made us wash ours right on the spot.”

The Orange County Register picks up the story:

“From the swollen, pus-filled black sac that was rapidly overtaking Paul’s knee, she just knew her worst nightmare was coming true: Gangrene was setting in. At that moment, she remembered what the doctor had said: Do not try to squeeze any pus out. Just let the medicine do its work.

“No, forget that, Rachael Franklin finally told herself. Grabbing her son by the hand, sitting him down and telling him to hold on to her, she told him that this might hurt a little. With two fingers, she went to work on the sac. ‘No, Mommy,’ Paul told her, ‘it doesn’t hurt.’ She squeezed. And she tugged and squeezed some more.”

What popped out of necrotic-looking tissue was not a small black rock as the family thought. Placing it in water, they realized that it was alive.

“He moved!” Rachael screamed. “There’s a freakin’ little guy in there! Bubbles were coming up.”

Paul’s dad, 36-year-old Ken Franklin, believes when his son fell, an egg was scraped up into Paul’s skin, and thereafter began gestating.

Paul named it “Turbo,” after the latest animated kid’s movie, and the critter joins Paul’s other movie-themed pet, a fish named “Dory.”

A story that the Franklins will always remember, Rachel alluded to the final resting spot for her son’s pet snail.

“If he is dead,” she tells Paul, “he’s going in your baby book, along with an incredible write-up.”

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